"Make Your Kid a Money Genius" Author Shares Tips for Parents

Steve Adubato goes one-on-one with Beth Kobliner, author of "Make Your Kid a Money Genius (Even if You're Not)," a guide for parents to teach children from ages 3 to 23 smart money habits they will need for life.

6/16/17 #2054

Excerpt:

"We are pleased to welcome Beth Kobliner, who is the author of Make Your Kid a Money Genius (Even If You're Not). How you doing? I'm good. Good to be here. Thank you. Well you and I were just talking off camera about how challenging it is. Real quick, some of the anecdotal stuff you just told me some parents sometimes say things like? "My kid wants to buy $1,200 jeans. Do you think that's okay?" That was in L.A. What? In New York, "My 21 year old wants a Platinum Card, Amex Card, because that would allow him to go into The Lounge with his friends." And... And you say? No. Tell him... he can have an AmEx card, he could have a Platinum one, as long as he earns the money to get one. I think sometimes parents are fearful of going through and having the talk about why it's important to be smart about money. And I think it's interesting, whether a person has a lot of money or very little money, there's a fear of confronting money. It's still a taboo topic. We talk about sex. We talk about drugs. We talk about alcohol with kids. But people are afraid to talk about money. And I think it is so important. How soon? By age three. What? Research shows... the University of Wisconsin shows that by age three, kids understand basic money values like exchange. We give money. We get something back. They understand value. Things have value. Or they understand choices. We have to make choices when we buy things. But the bad news is, because I know you have a six year old, but by age seven, a lot of those money habits are set. Please stop. Can we go back? Like impulse control. But, but but but... Can we rewind? [laughter] But you can do so much at... from age eight, my book is for age three to twenty three. Okay. How to talk to kids. And there are so many everyday moments. If you go buy a car, you say, "You know what? This is the price. We're gonna negotiate, or get an interest rate, a lower interest rate on a loan. We're gonna go to a bank." All those everyday moments are worthwhile discussing. So, I don't want to make the show about me, because it's not. Let's make it about you. It's your show. No. No no no no. Okay. But here's the thing. It's me as a, you know, cause everybody else has a piece of this. Right. My wife often tells me with our daughter Olivia, who is six, we got the other kids, teenagers, and a big boy who's solid, and 24..."